The burkini controversy

France is scared of burkinis, which have been elevated to the level of France’s greatest security threat. The situation would be comical if the consequences weren’t so real. After a number of tragic terrorism incidents across France in the last year, many sensible observers noted that France and the larger European community had failed to integrate their religious and ethnic minorities. Following up on the last decade of growing right-wing sentiment in France, the mayor of Nice decided that his first priority after the deadly attack at the Bastille Parade in the city would be to ban women from wearing burkinis at a beach. The mayor bizarrely claimed that the decision was to make the city and the women more secure. Another 30 French towns swiftly followed up the decision as calls for a nationwide ban came from right-wing politicians.

In a welcome decision, France’s main administrative court overturned the till then two-week ban on wearing ‘religious clothing’ at a beach. It is now expected that the ban will face a similar fate in the 30 other small towns that had imposed a similar restriction barring women from donning the clothing. The choice now lies with mayors on whether they want to let the matter go or continue to face more legal action from human rights group. But what a woman can and cannot wear on a beach is not the question to debate. Instead, it is the more insidious logic that puts women’s bodies at the centre of the global war on terrorism that needs to be rejected. French politicians have claimed that the bans are both about keeping women safe from violent racist mobs and liberating women from patriarchy, as well as reinforcing secular values. This means that violent and racist mobs will now decide what a woman can wear or not – and somehow it can be claimed that these mobs are upholding the principles of secularism. Images of women being told to take off their clothes on a beach by police are immensely disturbing. It is ridiculous that a piece of swimwear can become the most important subject of debate in France at a time when it is under genuine threat of terrorism. The reality is that women’s bodies become a matter of public debate for every choice they make. Whether it is France’s idea of secular unrobing or the Muslim man’s idea of enforced veiling, it is time we respected a woman’s choice of clothing – and stopped talking about women’s bodies in the name of culture, tradition, religion or secularism.